Forum Thread

crystal walked in and sat down next to amanda, reading a book she had brought with her.
even tyson came into the call on time and sat across from crystal.
''when does class start anyway..?'' he asked.
''no clue tyson'' crystal sighed.

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Amanda looked over to Crystal, who seemed nice enough not to shove a pencil in her ear or something. "It's actually already started. I think that it's just the professor being late." Amanda said, watching as the students began to fill up seats. A man barged into the room, panting. He held a filer filled with crumpled papers that stuck out, and he had ruffled blonde hair that stuck out. His glasses were crooked, and he had white gloves over his hands. The Herbology professor took his seat at the teacher desk.

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"I appreciate the information - I intend to do some research in the library at my earliest convenience." Arashi responded, carefully neutral. He wasn't yet certain what he thought of Mia Grey. "I suppose it would be polite to reciprocate, wouldn't it? I doubt many pure-blood families keep track of lines that have gone Squib..." He mused, wondering what talent she was referring to. As she mentioned it in passing, he decided that it was fair game for his curiosity, and filed it away in his mind for future reference. He carefully didn't comment on her being the only Grey, not wanting to push any buttons without reason. "My family has tended to stay out of politics for the most part, preferring to tinker in the background - even after Squibbing out. We come out of the woodwork if there's a threat to our way of life, but we tend to be quite willing to live and let live in the absence of a personal grudge. That tinkering is what produced my pet, Isaac - he's a ball-tailed kneazle." He explained, ambling along as they headed into Herbology. "Some Zadkiels even experimented on themselves - that's why some of us have odd eye colours."
When the Professor arrived, Arashi grinned - he looked like he might be fun.

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Mia looked at him in interest. "Well, at least now we have a reason for your eccentric appearance," she commented idly as they walked into the greenhouse.Her eyes flashed again as she took a look at the professor, taking a seat near the front as she retrieved her textbook. ‘At least he has an excuse for having odd eye colors..Timmy will be very hard to explain things to,‘ she though, her eyes narrowed as she thought of how Callisto could know her true appearance differed from her current one. 'Felicity, remember that time when we decided auburn hair would bring the least suspicion? I'm starting to think we should have just left my hair black.‘

‘Why are you only asking now?'

'Timmy and Arashi suspect something, and Callisto knows that this isn't my true appearance.'

'Well, that potion incident you told me about should have done something to her senses. Fortunately, we only changed your hair and eye color.'

‘Too bad that's enough to link me to my mother. You know how her family was.'

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[I personally think we need a villain that doesn't have an ambition close to Voldemort's. Remember what that professor said to Callie? ''Especially not at this time''. Who agrees we should make a villain out of that?]

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{I'm not too sure...maybe...oh, and do we have a set partner for each class already or is it a case of first come, first serve?}

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[Not really. It's just rather random.]

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[Yeah, we do need a villain. I'm not really sure on what kind of background and goal to put them in, though.]

Callisto stealthily navigated her way from the rest of the crowd, taking a less used shortcut to the greenhouses. Herbology was the only subject she got nervous around at.

"Well, if one can easily catch fire and destroy every plant..." She mused to herself as she slipped into the greenhouse unseen.

The mere sight of people and plants together made her unusually nervous. During last night's feast, her hands had caught fire and nearly burned the whole Gryffindor table to ashes. Thankfully Aguamenti was one of the few Charms she was well-versed in.

Callisto looked up when the professor began to explain what they were going to do. Noting that the class, like the others, had a mixture of students from all Houses, Callisto wondered what could have caused the change. She was pretty sure it used to be only two Houses for each class.

"Especially not during these times," the words of the Charms professor echoed in her mind.

Callisto's eyes narrowed briefly. The change could not be coincidence.

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[I'm thinking a main villain and minor villains that build around it. Like Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Like all those obstacles that Kronos put up. Oh, I know. How about a mud-blood who was tormented in his past because of his blood league, and wants equal for all of the blood types. Although he went to far and began to kill full-blood children, and adults. He could be a major or minor villain, it doesn't matter. How does that sound?]

The teacher didn't look much like a rein of terror. More that a rein of late. It was like someone took a large black sharpie and wrote 'I'M LATE' on his forehead. His hair was messy, there were rings under his eyes... The master of oversleeping, Thomas acknowledged. The Herbology professor didn't seem to have any reason not to go to sleep. It wasn't like his daisies screamed in agony, right?

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{Hmm, not a bad idea. Why not?}

Mia smiled lightly as the professor announced today's task; to identify every plant in the greenhouse. Retrieving her parchment from her bag, she pulled out a quill, looking at her partner in question. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at Callisto, who was by now the only person without a partner. "Tell me, how good are you in Herbology?" she asked, meeting the gaze she gave her evenly.

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<Another group of minor villains could be some of the children of the old Death Eaters? But they wouldn't be much of a force by now. Also, there are desks in Herbology? I though there was just a big table with plants where everyone stood around>

Timmy took his place. "The professor seems to be a bit... flaky." Timmy thought. Herbology was his worst subject, so Timmy was worried about how he'd perform in this class. "After this class, I think I'll go find Apollo..."

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[I'm liking Waffle's idea.

Turning it around...so-called Mudbloods torturing purebloods.

Wow, call it alternate universe, because that definitely would be one. I'm all for it :3]

Callisto shifted uneasily at the question. "Barely decent," she meekly admitted as she noted down several plant names on a piece of parchment.

She moved to the next plant, briefly racking her brains for its name. Once she realized what it was, she nearly tripped trying to get away from it. "Venomous tentacula," she muttered under her breath as she jotted it down.

As a potions prodigy, she knew a lot about their uses. However, caring for them had been more of Bella's job. Fire didn't mix well with nature. It was a burning flame that was an outcast from its own. Shaking herself out of her poetic reverie, Callisto bit her lip as she scribbled down another plant name.

"What about you?" she inquired the Grey girl, noting the fact that her appearance seemed to slip as she focused on her.

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[But if it was the children of old Death Eaters, it'd just be reliving the past, which would be less fun. And it's way into the future, so desks exist :D
Oh, and maybe they're targeting Hogwarts for some reason? I wanna try something really mysterious. Like Gravity Falls.]

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{Two villainous teams...I actually prefer WaffleCat's, but TimTam's is good too.}

Mia fixed her eyes on he parchment, noting down the last plant name. "Fairly good, my level is roughly an Exceeds Expectations bordering on Outstanding. But I doubt your inability with this subject. Potions and Herbology go hand in hand. It doesn't exactly make sense to excel in one and nearly fail in one."

She silently cursed the gods, particularly Janus, as she realized Callisto was dangerously close to unraveling her true appearance. It was a minor change, true, but she didn't want her heritage revealed so soon. It now looked like two of her important secrets were about to be revealed in the first year of Hogwarts.

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[Three-way!

....That came out wrong. I meant as in three way war.]

Callisto froze for a second before regaining her composure. She shakily jotted down the final plant name before replying. "Fire and nature don't go well, though the former comes from the latter as well," she said cryptically.

Looking up from her parchment, she made eye contact with the pureblood. To Callisto's shock, she watched as the auburn hair and grey eyes melt away slowly into something...was that magic? She was too stunned to realize what the girl's true appearance looked like. She snapped her eyes shut as she came to the final conclusion, her quill dropping to the floor as the air around them grew uncomfortably warmer. "You're a-"

"Time's up! Please give your parchment to be graded!" the professor called, much to the protest of some students. "If you didn't complete it, too bad for you!"

Callisto took a step back, careful to not make eye contact with the Ravenclaw. "Saved by the bell," Callie thought as she hurried to turn in her paper.

Returning to get her bag, Callisto narrowly avoided the plants who attempted to bite her, sensing her as a walking firebomb. Dodging a particularly annoying vine, she finally made it back to her stuff, slinging her bag over her shoulder.

Callisto spotted the Ravenclaw in the crowd, her disguise still intact. "Must be just my enhanced senses who can see through layers of magic," Callisto realized suddenly.

Noting that break was soon, Callisto sped away from the rest of the students, taking her previous shortcut to the castle. As she brushed against a tree trunk, the wood blazed for one terrifying moment, but died down, leaving a long scorch mark. Swallowing her nervousness, Callisto hurried to get to the third floor, and preferably, the library. Maybe she could get in a bit of reading time before the next class, and before break when she had to explain things to Clarisse.

She wasn't the only one with a secret, it seemed now.

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Clarisse was sure she had failed that plant-naming test. As the professor dismissed them for break, she grabbed all her stuff in a bundle and walked out of Greenhouse One. She was about to head back to Gryffindor Tower when she remembered about Callisto. Oh, crap. She thought and rushed towards the library.

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(I like the idea of villains with different backgrounds - perhaps some of them could be disaffected Squibs of a like mind to Filch? Perhaps they might be using some muggle-related ideas as well?)

Arashi smiled to himself as he contemplated his completed test - he was fairly confident about this one. While not all of them were as engaging as animals, he quite liked plants, so it was relatively familiar ground for him. He wondered whether they were likely to be assigned plants to look after at some point - which he thought might be fun. He was slightly concerned about the Professor's well-being, though. Perhaps some of the more delicate plants had been infested with something and he'd had to care for them through the night? Dismissing these thoughts, he wandered back to the castle with the others, intending to figure out where to go next. Perhaps the library, if it wouldn't make him late for something?

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Mia's eyes widened as she realized Callisto had seen through her magic. She raced to hand her parchment to the professor, before she grabbed her bag, sprinting towards the castle. She found herself in a cubicle in the third-floor bathroom. Taking a breath, she closed the door to the cubicle and cast silencing, locking and privacy charms, releasing her Metamorphagi magic. Wandlessly conjuring a mirror, she stared at her reflection, a girl with ebony-black hair and silver eyes staring back at her as she closed her eyes, deciding her next course of action.

‘The silver eyes, a trait of the Moon lines, one of those who were one of Voldemort's greatest supporters. Estranged after the last war, something that will have everybody's attention on me,' Mia thought, before blasting the mirror into smithereens. She let her Metamorphagi magic change her appearance again, before removing the charms. She headed towards the library, intending to explain things to Timmy and Callisto. She had sworn not to let it get out, but the two deserved to know.

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[I did mention that the last war was like million ago, right? Also, I'm going to sleep so this will be my last post.]

Clarisse walked into the library, and immediately saw Callisto. "You wanted to talk to me?" She asked, setting her things down. Her hair only ever goes in flames. She thought, which meant Callie couldn't be a metamorphagus. If that was the case, then what was she?

Amanda was chatting with Savage (mentally) until the next class started. 'I wonder if Mia considers me as a friend.' Amanda looked to Savage. The mouse's ear twitched. 'I don't know. I can only ever read your thoughts.' The mouse retorted. Amanda sighed.

---

Callisto was having one of her headaches again. And no, they weren't the normal aspirin-cured ones. It was one of those magical-induced throbbing headaches which made you feel like you had a personal Athena in your head trying to get out. Seriously bad timing.

Flipping through her Potions homework, Callisto did her best to block out the pain without setting anything on fire. She finally gave up on reading, and tilted back her chair (despite the librarian's protests), and closed her eyes.

The library held a sense of comfort for her, even before the accident. It was the perfect getaway from reality, and she merely needed to open a book and find herself in a different world. Shaking away her sudden daydream, Callisto set her chair back on the ground, the headache having somewhat calmed. A lazy glance at the clock informed her that her next class was soon, and so was lunch. Her stomach grumbled slightly at the prospect, but Callisto ignored it, focusing on the event in Herbology. Mia Grey - was that even her real name? - was a Metamorphmagus. Come to think of it, Callisto remembered that most of the Grey line had died out or married into Muggle lineages. Mia was probably one of the last, and possibly the last pureblood in their line.

Now Callisto was regretting running away from the scene so quickly. Mia was probably worrying she would spill her secret to the rest of the school. At this, Callisto shook her head in disbelief.

"She's not the only one with hidden magic," Callisto thought darkly, running a finger across her left palm. A tiny golden spark popped suddenly in the silence of the library, and Callisto quickly withdrew her finger.

Just in time too, for Clarisse had arrived. At her question, Callie grimly smiled. She flipped open a book from the Magical Creatures section to a certain page. A beautifully hand-drawn picture of a phoenix with its wings spread and fire blazing from its tail dominated a full page. On the right page was a couple of paragraphs about the creature.

Carefully focusing, Callisto felt her magic blaze bright, spreading to the tips of her hair and flooding her irises. Carefully casting a Silencing Charm around them, Callisto fixed her molten gold eyes on the Slytherin girl. "My potion brewing skills were considered to be unrivaled by anyone else of my age. I was just trying to prove I was good enough for this title, and well," Callisto released a short laugh. "I succeeded. I went too far. I improved the potion beyond anyone's wildest imagination. I created a completely different one. A potion that I sampled myself."

She paused to tilt her chair back, smiling bitterly at the ceiling. "The potion caused a serious mutation in the very core of magic in a person. A mutation," She paused once more to set her chair back properly, "that would eventually evolve the person's magic abilities to the point they were no longer completely human."

Callisto let out a shaky breath, something she had been holding since that so-called "accident." "I'm a half-breed, Clarisse. Half phoenix, half witch. And the process isn't even fully complete yet," she finally revealed.

Part of her was curious on how the pureblood would react, and the other was telling her Clarisse would blab to the entire school. "You can't tell anyone. Half the Ministry doesn't even know, they really think it was some potion accident. You're the first person my age to even know," she hastily added, hoping the blonde would comply to her terms.

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